Making the call to close school or keep it open isn’t easy. When I watch the weather reports on the local news, I remember that Buffalo doesn’t have much to report because they make every storm sound like the end of the world as we know it. Then I’m up by 4:30 or 5:00 talking to other superintendents and our transportation guys to figure out what it looks like in Randolph. When our neighbors cancel, I pay attention.
This morning my friend and colleague, Jon Peterson, called at 5:00 am to tell me he was cancelling at Cattaraugus-Little Valley. Where was the snow? The northern part of his district. We’re at the southern end. So I went with my guys on the ground here in Randolph and stayed open.
My commute is from Gowanda through the Pine Valley district and into Randolph. I live only 22 miles from the school and most days the drive is a breeze. This morning was a little rougher and I’m pretty sure it’s because the Conewango plow crews (who keep roads in Randolph and Pine Valley districts clear) concentrated their efforts on Randolph who was open. Driving through South Dayton and Leon in the Pine Valley district was interesting, but I’m glad they focused on clearing the roads for our Randolph buses. The entire drive in I thought I’d made a mistake to stay open and found myself praying that everyone would arrive safely.
Which brings me (finally!) to the point of this post. Our bus drivers were on their runs, without complaint, doing the job with the same dedication and excellence as every other day. When I came up behind one of our drivers this morning, I thought “Look at that bus just humming along getting all of our kids to school safely.” And as I saw the parents waiting in their cars to put their kids on the bus so they could head off to work, I figured it wasn’t such a bad decision to stay open after all.
Thank you to every school bus driver charged with the crucial task of transporting our most precious cargo, our children, every day. You are an important part of our school family and I was reminded of that again today.
I am glad to see an administrator acknowledge the schoolbus drivers. I drove a schoolbus before becoming a teacher. Busdrivers provide a very nessesary and important service. They are the first responders to many of our students. Give them a smile or an encoraging word any time you can.
I recall a conversation with a retiring superintendent who lived with the pain of making the wrong call many years ago. Seems he shold have called off school but didn’t. A young man died in an auto accident on the way to school. The story made me appreciate the decisons superintendents make can be monumentous, even life-or-death.
Kim, again, I appreciate that you have these conversations so openly and honestly. I think that closing school (or remaining open) is a huge responsibility. I always forget to thank our transportation supervisor because he works so EARLY and so diligently with our superintendent and town employees to ensure the safety of our students. Thanks to you too!
I so have the same thoughts each morning as I see all the buses lined up waiting to drop off their cargo. What a thankless job these men and women have, as I am sure that most of the ride time is filled with noise that would drive most people insane. I know that I could not do what they do, and that is why I so appreciate them. My kids don’t even ride the bus we live close enough to walk (or they usually get me to drive them with some excuse why they can’t walk and can no longer ride their bikes). We use that drive time, all two minutes of it to pray together, and 9 out of 10 mornings one of us pray for the bus drivers as well as everyone else responsible for taking care of them through out the day. So this is just a little tag on to Kimberly’s post and I too thank you all for what you do.
I remember an interesting conversation in the faculty dining room where I used to teach. The new superintendent, Bob,(former high school principal) was recounting a conversation with the retiring superintendent. Bob asked his predecessor what the hardest part of the job was. His answer: when to close school for snow. He explained his process of communicating with the sheriff’s dept. and key “spotters”. We talked about how to respond when the weather and roads were fine in the morning but the forecast called for treacherous weather to arrive during the school day. He also discussed the hard choice of when to call for an emergency early dismissal. Would the weather clear before regular dismissal time? Would parents be home to meet the kids? How long would it take to contact all the drivers and get the buses ready to load? Could they all get there quickly enough to be worth the added issues of calling for an emergency early dismissal?
Like you, Bob lived in a neighboring district and had to rely heavily on the advice of trusted spotters in key locations in the district to help him make his decision. Like Randolph, the district was a large rural one where weather in one spot might be vastly different from weather in another location.
Even with more advanced weather forecasting, internet resources and cell phone communication, it still has to be one of the hardest decisions for a superintendent to make. I’m glad I’m not in your shoes, especially this time of year at 5 am. Oh, for a crystal ball! 🙂